Using the Group Policies

To use the Group Policy to manage ActiveExit, first download the Active Exit Administrator's Kit from the ActiveExit web site . Uncompress the zip file, and you should find the ActiveExit administrative template file (ActiveExit.adm) in it. To use this file with the Group Policy, you need to create a new Group Policy Object (GPO) and add the ActiveExit administrative template file (ActiveExit.adm) to it. The following steps should be done once, after installing ActiveExit on the server:

Run the Server Manager application and select Group Policy Objects in the left pane. Right-click on it, and choose New from the menu:

In the New GPO dialog, enter a name for the GPO (such as ActiveExit):

Now right-click on the new GPO and select Edit from the shortcut menu:

Select the Administrative Templates item under Computer Configuration, right-click on it and select Add/Remove Templates from the shortcut menu:

Click Add, navigate to the folder where ActiveExit has been installed (usually it is C:/Program Files/ActiveExit) and select the file ActiveExit.adm to add:

At this point the ActiveExit GPO is ready for configuration. Note that if you have upgraded to a new version of ActiveExit that comes with an updated ActiveExit.adm file, you should remove the old administrative template and add the new one, as described in the previous step, to make sure that the latest Group Policy is used.

To configure the ActiveExit GPO settings, select the ActiveExit item under Classic Administrative Templates - WinAbility, and use the items in the right panel to change the settings:

License information

Use this window to enter your ActiveExit license information:

Keep in mind that when you enter your license information, no verification is taking place, so you must be careful to enter it EXACTLY as it appears on your receipt or invoice. You may want to copy and paste the information, to avoid the typos. If you enter the information incorrectly, there will be NO error message displayed at this point. However, ActiveExit may fail to work properly when it loads the incorrect information on the target computers.

The Hide license key from the user option allows you to hide the ActiveExit license key on its About window, if you don't want anyone running the ActiveExit configuration utility to see the key. Note, however, that this option does not affect the visibility of the license key in other places. For example, the license key can still be viewed on the target computers with the Registry Editor.

Settings

Use this window to manage the settings of ActiveExit:

The settings available here are the same as those offered by the ActiveExit configuration utility.

Apply to / Do not apply to

Use these windows to manage the lists of groups and users which should or should not be processed by ActiveExit:

The settings available here are the same as those offered by the ActiveExit configuration utility. Keep in mind, however, that when you are entering the names of the users and groups in the lists here, no verification of the names is taking place, so you must be extra careful to check the spelling of the names you provide. If you enter an incorrect name here, no error message will be displayed at this point, but ActiveExit will fail to process the name you intended.

The names of the local user accounts must be entered as they are, without the computer prefix, for example:

Administrator
Guest

The names of the domain user accounts must be entered by specifying the domain prefix, for example:

TESTDOMAIN\Administrator
TESTDOMAIN\JoeDoe

The names of the user groups must be entered by WITHOUT the domain prefix, for example:

Administrators
Domain Admins
Remote Desktop Users

Finally, you should link the ActiveExit GPO to the appropriate set of the computers which you want to be processed by ActiveExit. Remember that the client computers must have ActiveExit software installed on them in order for the settings to be actially used! Also, keep in mind that the changes to the Group Policy usually does not become effective immediately: it may take some time (usually between 90 and 120 minutes) before the settings get updated on the target computers. While testing, you may want to use the gpupdate command to force the Group Policy updates after making changes.

Please consult your Windows Server documentation for more information on GPOs and Group Policy.